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The rhetoric from North Korea is fearsome these days, but for tourism it’s business as usual. So says Nick Bonner of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, a North Korea travel specialist: "A few [clients] have asked us to cancel, but most are going in."

The 20-year-old Koryo Tours takes some 2,000 travelers to North Korea each year, accounting for about 40 percent of western visitors there. Bonner, Koryo's founder, and Amanda Carr, independent tour specialist, shared their experience.

Has this level of tension occurred before? "Since the establishment of our company we have experienced similar times of high tension, particularly in 1993 and 2003-2004," Bonner says, but never have tours been interrupted. "We take advice from the U.K. Embassy in Pyongyang, our own experience and our Korean colleagues who are also very responsible."

So who visits North Korea? U.S. citizens make up the largest share (27 percent) of Koryo's business, followed by Britons. It's a mix of groups and private tourists, mostly from western countries. Bonner estimates that each year an additional 10,000 Chinese tourists visit North Korea.

This month, Koryo Tours is in the midst of Kim Il Sung 101st Birthday tours (the "Great Leader," grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, was born April 1912), from three to 11 nights and priced at 1,190 to 2,290 euros (about US$1,560 to $3,000). Visas cost an additional 50 euros; most visitors pick them up in China, North Korea's principal gateway.

The Pyongyang Metro is one of the country's top sights. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What is there to see in North Korea? Koryo counts among the top sights numerous museums – war museum, metro museum (complete with a museum dedicated to the construction of the metro museum) – the elaborately decorated Pyongyang metro system, the School Children's Palace and Grand People's Study House.

"The beautiful scenery is always something else that people do not expect in North Korea," adds Carr. "The mountains and the East/North-East coastline are stunning, especially the lush green mountains after the rainy season in the Mt Myohyang and Mt Chilbo areas."

Then Koryo books in special-interest travelers such as roller coaster fanatics. For lovers of revolving restaurants, Bonner says, "Pyongyang has three."

More than any sights, though, Bonner says that visitors comment most on "the chance of contact with the people, whether it be on the metro, in the park, walking along the river or at the funfair. Surprising is the fact that you are welcomed to the country and have a chance to speak to North Koreans, even if it is just to acknowledge each others' presence."

But aren't visitors under constant supervision? All tourists, whether groups or individuals, are accompanied by two guides, trained at a government-run tourism school. Bonner calls the system "similar to tourism in the early years in China, when there was only one government company you could travel with." A North Korean government agency is responsible for guides, hotels, transport and more.

The closest most visitors will get to North Korea is here, the demilitarized zone separating North from South Korea. (Photo credit: Jan Christian Teller)

Do you worry about tourism revenue going for nefarious purposes? After accounting for the costs of running the tour operations, Bonner says, any tax paid to the government "is not going to be a significant amount of money."

In addition, Koryo Tours has an active program of cultural engagement, outreach directly to local people on endeavors from documentary film-making to sports. Bonner calls the reach of Koryo's programs "more than most embassies'. We simply wish there were more projects being carried on, as they are certainly appreciated by the North Korean people we come into contact with."

What do average North Koreans make of the current tensions? Bonner calls the North Korean viewpoint a mirror image of that of its southern neighbor and the world beyond. State-run media portray the aggression as coming from America and South Korea (in the form of war exercises, etc.).

Ultimately, though, Bonner says that "Most [North Koreans] we spoke to…are more worried getting their kids to school and on time than the threat of hostilities breaking out."

"But of course they realize these are tense times and are worried." In the words of one of his guides: “as anyone with family would be."